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Here’s how: If you are on the birth control pill or birth control ring, just skip the sugar pills or ring-free week and you won’t have your period.

You can also skip your periods on the IUD with hormone, implant, and shot, but they are not as reliable. 70% of women will stop having periods on those methods and the other 30% will have lighter periods, but not everyone can get to no periods on those methods.

For Ring users, just change your ring every 4 weeks or every month. There’s actually 35 days worth of medicine in the ring and there are only 31 days max to every month. So you’re covered!

The first time you try, usually you can get to 3 months with no periods and then you get some spotting. When you get spotting, come off the pills for 5 days (you’ll get a withdrawal bleed during that time) then go back on your pill or ring (a new one) one the 6th day whether or not you are still bleeding. You’ll get further each time i.e. the 1st time, you get to 3 months with no period, and then the 2nd time – 6 months with no period, then 1 yr, then Voilà, no more periods!

In an article by Malcolm Gladwell, you can read here about how the co-inventor of the Pill created the pill to have a 1 week withdrawal bleed (fake period) because he wanted to help facilitate “the rhythm method” which was acceptable to the Catholic church. However his co-founders knew that “a cycle of any desired length could presumably be produced.”

The article also states that “incessant menstruation” is a modern construct. That women, in our “natural state,” wouldn’t have as many periods as we have in the modern world. In Mali, women only have about 101 periods in their lives. This is because they start having periods later, which means fewer periods per year, and they have more babies and breastfeed longer. Meanwhile in the U.S., we have ~ 350-400 periods in our lifetimes. We have endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer from all that extra building of the lining and shedding of the lining and popping out eggs each month – in Mali, they have none.

So, by having fewer periods, you are decreasing your risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer, decreasing blood loss (which can lead to lower academic performance if you become iron deficient), and using fewer feminine hygiene products (decreasing the burden to landfill).

Now that we know that we can skip our monthly bleed, wouldn’t life be better with less bloodshed?

So, if you have finals coming up, a competition, a sports event, vacation… you can SKIP THAT PERIOD. Or in general, are you going to do better on the GRE/MCAT/finals or life, on your period or off your period?

Blog posts are not a substitute for professional medical advice. The informational is for general informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor/primary care provider before starting or changing treatment.